Swedish black metal titans NAGLFAR's new beast, "Pariah", will be unleashed in the U.S. July 12 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2003's "Sheol", "Pariah" is described in a Century Media press release as "a flawless work of iniquitous hell-spawned art filled with raging guitar riffs, bludgeoning drums, demonic vocals, that combine with haunting melodies to capture hell's eternal depravity. Battle axemen guitarists Andreas Nilsson and Marcus Norman return with their triumphantly vicious six-stringed assault, while drummer Mattias Grahn relentlessly drives the band's frenetic attack. Assuming vocal duties is founding member and bassist Kristoffer Olivius replacing Jens Rydén, who ...

Sweden's OPETH are on the verge of inking a new record deal with Roadrunner Records, informed sources have told BLABBERMOUTH.NET. The band, who were previously signed to the now-defunct British label Music For Nations Records, recently entered Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden to begin recording their eight album, tentatively due later in the year.

OPETH will take part in the inaugural Sounds of the Underground tour, which is slated to kick off June 25 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Other bands scheduled to take part in the trek include CLUTCH, LAMB OF GOD, GWAR, POISON THE WELL, FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES, UNEARTH, EVERY TIME I DIE, CHIMAIRA, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, MADBALL and DEVILDRIVER.

OLD MAN'S CHILD guitarist Galder (also in DIMMU BORGIR) has posted the following message on the group's web site:

"The new OLD MAN'S CHILD album is now finally almost finished after a quite long break. It was recorded in Fredman [in Gothenburg, Sweden] once again since I was pretty satisfied with the sound on the 'In Defiance of Existence' album [2003]. It's going to be mixed in early May so you can expect that Century Media will push it so it comes out as soon as possible. I only have an unmixed version at home, but even that sounds pretty good, so I have a feeling it will sound very good when finally mixed. It has 8 new songs and a re-recording of the old song 'Born of the Fli ...